Best of 2008 – MP3 Players

Portable audio players or MP3 players are a hugely popular product, it seems everyone these days has one, and for good reason we like our music, be it for entertainment or just to get away from things like crowded buses. There are of course good and bad in all products, but it’s the time of year to let you know the best of 2008 according to how you the user and experts have ranked them. As for continuing trends this year, we got the ever popular Apple players occupying two spots, and a couple other surprises as well.

The Creative ZEN X-Fi features an MP3 player with capacity of 8GB/16GB/32GB. It also has a 2.5" 16.7 million color TFT LCD with 320 x 240 pixels. The player can play up to 36 hours of audio playtime, up to 5 hours of video playtime. The ZEN X-Fi supports the following formats for video MPEG, WMV9, MPED4-SP3, DivX3 4/5 and XviD3. Audio formats which are supported are MP3, WMA, AAC4 (.m4a), WAV (ADPCM), Audible 4 and JPEG (BMP/ GIF / PNG / TIFF) 5 for image formats.

"Light on ounces, heavy on gigabytes, screaming with audio enhancements and streaming like a fiend: The latest ZEN puts it all in the palm of your hand." –BigPictureSound

"The amazing Zen X-Fi has great sound, features, headphones, and storage options–and for a nice price, too." –PCWorld

With the 4th iteration to Apples iPod Nano Apple has made "the thinnest iPod yet". The Nano now features a built in accelerometer that gives it similar functions as the iPod Touch or the iPhone were you can flip it to the side and see music in cover flow mode. A added new feature for the Nano 4G is that you can "shake it" to switch song.

"Apple has thrown in a few more new goodies too. There’s Genius mode, which will create a playlist of songs that go together. You can also shake your nano to shuffle to a new song. Another new feature is voice prompts. This is a great feature for people that are visually impaired. As you scroll through the menus, a male voice reads the menu items to you. And last, but not least, this nano can record voice memos if you plug in a microphone. It works well with the iPhone earbuds/mic." –The Gadgeteer

"The iPod nano 4G combines the best features of its predecessors, plus a few from the iPod touch. It’s Apple’s thinnest iPod yet, despite packing an accelerometer and more memory. This player’s form and usability are extremely attractive, and it is finally beginning to distinguish itself, feature-wise, in an increasingly competitive field." –Laptop Magazine

The SanDisk Sansa Fuze features an MP2 player with capacity of 4GB/8 GB. It also has 1.9-inch color TFT LCD. The device also supports audio formats such as Ogg, Vorbis, FLAC, Audible, WAV, WMA, MP3.it also supports video format of MPEG and photo format of JPEG. In addition to this it also has 40 Digital FM presets. It also contains a Built-in microphone and allows voice recording. It also has a USB 2.0, 3.5-millimeter headphone jack and an embedded Rechargeable battery. It comes packaged with Earphones, Quick Start Guide, and Installer CD with User Manual.

"The Sandisk Sansa Fuze is awfully reminiscent of its direct competition, the iPod Nano, with similar size, feel and click wheel. But when the almighty dollar dictates decisions, you can’t beat the Fuze." –Top Ten Reviews

"Overall, the Sansa Fuze is a thin, lightweight MP3 player that offers a lot of features for a very attractive price. It is compatible with all major operating systems (including Linux and Mac OS X) and supports audiobook playback. The user interface is simple enough to use that I would be confident that anyone I gave it to (even my grandma!) would be able to use it without any issues." –Top Review Shop

The Sony NWZ-A826 is a portable multimedia device that was released by Sony under its Walkman brand. The player measures 3.7 x 2.01 x 0.37 inches and weighs approximately 2.05 ounces. It can be used to store and play audio and video files as well as store and view image files. The player is only available in black with 4 gigabytes of flash memory that can accommodate up to 2,450 audio files or up to 15 hours of video files.

"There’s no doubt that the new Walkman is a very desirable MP3 player. It has features and functionality to rival the very best, but there are a few niggles standing in the way of a full compliment of five stars. Not everyone worships at the altar of Apple, so if you want a good alternative, give the Walkman a whirl." – What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision

1) and coming in at the number one spot, the numero uno, the Top Dog of MP3 players this year, we’ve got the Apple iPod touch with a perfect 10 out of 10 rating!

"Apple’s refinements to the iPod Touch make it one of the slickest, most impressive media players on the market today. At $229 for even the smallest 8GB version, you’re still paying a pretty premium for Apple’s name and trademark engineering, but it shines through in the user experience and overall build quality." –Digital Trends

"The iPod Touch also doubles as a portable videogame. It uses the Multi-Touch interface to give players precise, fingertip control over game elements like chess pieces and cards. Even multiplatform titles like the recent The Force Unleashed have been released for the iPod. So the device goes a long way from the mere music player of the first iPods to being a multimedia gadget and PDA all bundled in a single product. It’s good for listening to music, watching videos, browsing the web and sending e-mails, while the user enjoys its easy and charming touch interface. It’s a killer product." –Hardware Secrets

"The second-generation iPod Touch includes features that are light-years ahead of the competition, its design has improved, and its price has finally come down to earth" –Mp3.com

As you can see Apple dominates the marketplace when it comes to mp3 players, and for very good reason, they’re very good products that work well, are easy to use, feature packed and they’re just an all around great portable media player.

The Apple line of mp3 players are just an amazing example of what happens when you set out to be the best at something, Apple has created a product that is simply amazing in both form and function. They started with an initial product years ago and it has saturated the market so much so that the term iPod has become synonymous with mp3 players everywhere.

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No justification or editorial as to why a particular player is better or worse than another? Sloppy and lazy. The Sansa should be ahead of the Walkman. Sony DAPs and PMPs have never been great and it even says there are ‘niggles’ while the Sansa says NOTHING negative about it… why would something WITH downsides be ahead of something WITHOUT downsides?

kristofer

Ian – No it’s not sloppy and lazy. Did you click through to learn more about the products, and their scores? We collect reviews from all over the world, this are how the product ranked as an average from USER and EXPERT reviews. Did you happen to notice the scores, number of user reviews and expert reviews and from how many countries they are from? You are of course entitled to your own opinion, but these are the facts, not opinions, these are how they ranked according to expert reviews and user reviews overall, taking everything into consideration.

PygSky

Since this is the first time at a very promising site, I will be cautious with suggestions that this is yet another closet Apple Fan Boy digital altar, but I have to say the iPod Touch is in no way deserving of a 10 out of 10 rating. Does it have a user-programmable eq? Does it have the capacity to store my library at 320 kbps/vbr or (dream of dreams) FLAC? Does it have a radio? Can I use the controls without looking at it? No, no, no, and no. I could go on, but I won’t. Instead, I will simply say I want an MP3 player to listen to music that sounds good. I don’t care about the screen. Yeah, it is a pretty piece of bling, but but that isn’t the category. Best MP3 play? Not even close. Perfect? Please!

kristofer

Hi PygSky – First thanks for the comment, and let me say that my favorite mp3 player is my Zune 120gb.. I have an Apple ipod nano 4th but don’t really use it.. that being said I’m not an Apple fanboy. As for the ratings, the score was derived from user and expert reviews collected from all over the world, and it just ranks that way according the the reviews… but I have to agree with you about most of what you said, it’s pretty but not very functional..

Kyle

TERRIBLE article.

Are you kidding me?

The iPod is the WORST player when it comes to the actual user. Are they pretty? Yeah. Perfect case of form over function.

You don’t put the Samsung P2 on the list?

It’s the best player on the market.

Touchscreen. Bluetooth. Drag and drop. Music. Video.

You idiots who are buying these players that have DRM in them are just stupid frankly.

If you can’t open an explorer window and drag and drop files it’s a piece of junk.
If you have to use software to transfer files it’s also a piece of junk.

Get a clue and educate yourself a little.

kristofer

Why do I have to keep repeating myself? Does no one pay attention? These products are not rated by us! The scores are derived from user and expert reviews from around the world and this is what they had to say on the products, take it up with those reviewers who rated the products this way.

stu

I am a big fan of my Sansa Shaker, a sturdy no frills MP3 player, no video, no screen, just plays MP3 with a good built in speaker and 2 headphone sockets for sharing It uses SD cards and a AAA battery, perfect for long trips, camping etc..

I feel it is better to spend less on the player and think more about the content to be played and spend a bit more on good headphones, maybe a review on the best headphones could be next…..I put my old Koss Porta Pros into the ring…..I think the Shaker was £20 and the headphones £30 and the quality is great….

??

Kyle – I don’t really understand what you mean with “The iPod is the WORST player when it comes to the actual user” and “Get a clue and educate yourself a little”… my iPod does exactly what I want it to do and maybe you should take some time and learn how to use iTunes and an iPod before you start calling other people stupid.

I can sync everything I want (on my iPod touch) with my laptop plus I got all kinds of useful apps.
For example…
… I’ve never had a chinese-english dictionary on my mp3-player
… I’ve never had a mp3 player with WiFi AND a decent browser
… I’ve never been able to use IM clients on my mp3 players
… I’ve never been able to call to friends with my mp3 player
… I’ve never had a mp3 player that could subscribe to RSS feeds and get my mail

I get the feeling that some people are against iPod and Mac just because they’re too used to PCs, and using an Apple product is scary for them (plus it’s not as cool to be a Mac/Apple user in the nerd/gaming/programming community). Kinda the same reason why Death metal dudes wouldn’t want to be seen going to the ballet. Some people always want to go against the stream just because they think it makes them cool and original… why fight it? Apple is great… Period. I’ve never had a mp3 player that could do as much stuff as my iPod Touch. I think it’s probably the best player out there and it deserves to be up there with the best.

http://N/A Ira Cohen

would you please tell me what is the best flash player to upload 5 albums?
My brother n’law is a beatles freak & has Many old albums he has downloaded to his computer, & said if I send him a flash player, (for if he uses cd’s he will have to use too many)he will upload some albums for me so I can download them to my itunes library in my computer.(we both have PC’s with XP) I have never used a flash player before & I am not that fluent with computer stuff (I am 60 yrs. old & a Disabled Veteran & this is my 1st computer) & I read your reviews on them, but it didn’t mention music. I assumed you were doing the testing on files & folders, & stuff like that? This is why I ask, which would be the the best brand & capacity flash drive I can use for uploading these 5 albums?
Thank You for your time, Ira Cohen